Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1887-06-18
A Tired Mothers Victory.

"A uttle tlluely genIleneSS SWeetenS
a parents recollection in after years
with a thrill of gratitude; whereas
the memory of hasty severity to the
little ones must bring a pang. This
tender story of a mothers experience,
published in the Christian weekly, is
a beautiful lesson in itself. The
mother had laid her table with great
care and pains for a company of dis
tinguished guests, when her little
girl accidentally overturned a tureen
ofgravy on her snowy cloth.
What should 1 do? 1t seemed a
drop too much for my tired nerves.
many drops too much for my table,
cloth. 1 was about to jerk my child
down angrily from the table when a
blessed influence held me. 1 caught
the expression on her face; such a
sorry, frightened, appealing look /
never saw, and suddenly a picture of
the past came and stood out wildly
before my minds eye. My child's
face revealed feelings which / had
experienced twenty years before.
l was myself a little nervous girl,
about eight years old, in the happy
home of my childhood. 1t was a
stormy day in winter. 1t was SOON
after coal oil lamps were introduced,
and father had bought a very hand.
some one. The snow had drifted up
against the kitchen window, so, al
though it was not dark, the lamp was
lighted. Mother was sick in bed up
stairs, and we children were gathered
in the kitchen to keep the noise and
confusion awayfrom her.
l was feeling myself
helping to get supper; at any rate l
imagined l was helping, and in my
officiousness / seized the lamp and
went down to the cellar for some but
ter; l tried to set it on the hanging
shelf, but alas! 1 didn't give it room
enough, and down it fell on the ce-
mented floor. l never shall forget
the shock that it gave me. l seemed
almost paralyzed. / didn't dare go
up stairs, and / was afraid to stay
down there, and to make it worse /
heard my fathers voice in the kitch-
en-. He had cautioned us again and
again to be careful of that lamp, and
now there it lay smashed to pieces.
But his voice seemed to give the
impetus | needed to go up and meet
the scolding or whipping, or both,
which l felt sure awaited me, and
which / really felt I deserved. So /
crept up over the dark stairway, and
as 1 entered the kitchen l met my
father with such a stern look upon his
face that / was frightened. l saw
| there was no need to tell him what
had happened. He had heard the
crash, and if he hadn't l guess my
! face would have told the story. The
1 children stood silently around await.
: ing to see what father would do and
/ saw by their faces that they were
l horror struck, for that lamp had beer
y the subject of too much talk and won
5 der to be smashed without a sensa
V ton.
AS for me, I felt so frightened, 81
u confused and sorry, that I couldn'
u speak. But upon glancing again a
g father l saw the angry look die out o
Il his eyes and one of tender pity taxi
: its place.. l doubt not that he say
the same look in my face then that
d saw in my child's face today. In
u minute he lifted me in his arms ant
& was hugging me close to his breast
t Then he whispered, oh! so kindly
"Never mind, little daughter; we al
know it was an accident; but I hop
you will take the small lamp whel
II you go down to the cellar again"
& Oh, what a revolution of feelings
'e experienced. 1t was such a surpris
to me that l was suddenly ovel
> whelmed with feelings of love an
gratitude, and burying my face
Us sobbed as if my heart was breaking
81 No punishment could have affecte
y me half so much and nothing ca
n efface the memory of it from m
a mind. How l loved my father t.
H. day, as the sight of my little girl
face brought it all freshly before MT
Will she love me as dearly, l wor
der, twenty years or more from now
e because, moved by the same impuls
$ that stirred my fathers heart in thu
III long ago time, l was able to press til
little frightened thing to my hear
OF and tell her kindly that / knew ST
d. didn't mean to spill the gravy, an
that [ knew she would be more car